The bishops of Tennessee representing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Episcopal Church, and the Roman Catholic Church signed a joint letter urging Tennessee governor Bill Lee to commute the death sentence of Christa Gail Pike, convicted in 1996 for torturing and killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in January 1995. Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, 18 and 17-years-old respectively at the time, met Slemmer at a Job Corp program for troubled youth. Pike believed that Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend, which motivated the murder. Investigators said that Slemmer endured a lengthy beating and torture, that a pentagram was carved into her chest, and that Pike took a piece of her skull as a souvenir. A third person involved in the murder, Shadolla Peterson, also 18 at the time, turned state’s witness and received parole. Shipp was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. Only Pike was sentenced to death. In 2008, Pike’s latest request for a new trial was denied.
After Governor Lee refused clemency, prison officials attempted to execute the now 50-year-old Pike by lethal injection on September 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. She received a lethal dose of pentobarbitol via IV, but continued to breath and have a heart beat. The exectutioners administered a second lethal dose of pentobarbitol, but Pike still continued to breath and have a heart beat. At this point, prison officials removed the unconscious Pike from the execution chamber and transferred her to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Those who had, just an hour before, attempted to kill Pike were now desperately trying to save her life.
On Monday, Pike’s attorneys reported that they understood her to be brain dead and that life support would be terminated the next day. However, to everyone’s surprise, including, apparently, the medical team, Pike woke up the next day and began talking. Randall Spivey, one of Pike’s attorney’s, said that Davidson County Chancery Court judge I’Ashea Myles has ordered that evidence of the attempts at execution carried out by the all-female prison team be preserved, and Governor Lee has placed a moratorium on all executions for the rest of the year while an investigation into Pike’s botched execution is underway. Spivey explained that Pike herself is “angry and confused about everything right now. She is very aware that the state tried to execute her.” Had Pike’s execution been successful, she would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years. Her attorneys have filed a request to Governor Lee that they commute her sentence to life in prison and never attempt to execute her again.
Pike remains quite ill in the hospital, shackled to her bed. Her attorneys report that she cannot swallow, so she cannot eat or drink, suffers from pneumonia, and is unable to move her swollen arms or hands. She remains confused, but is able to talk and has been asking about what happened and also inquiring about Colleen Slemmer’s family.
Pike’s is the second botched execution in Tennessee this year. On May 21, Tennessee attempted to execute Tony Carruthers, also by lethal injection, but aborted the execution when prison staff were unable to obtain an IV. Carruthers was sentenced to death for a 1994 triple murder. He was only the ninth man in U.S. history to survive an execution by lethal injection, all because an IV was not able to be secured. Four of those inmates were executed by other means, three died in prison, and another remains alive awaiting his fate. Pike is reported to be the first person in U.S. history to survive an execution by lethal injection after the lethal drugs were administered.
Stating that the events surrounding the failed attempt to execute Pike make their appeal “even more urgent,” the bishops explained to Governor Lee that, “Our churches have long and consistently opposed capital punishment. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has called for the abolition of the death penalty, affirming that society can be protected through alternative punishment while refusing to perpetuate violence through execution. The Episcopal Church likewise has opposed the death penalty for decades and has called for existing death sentences to be commuted. For decades, the Roman Catholic Church has called the death penalty unnecessary to protect society and still punish those who have committed grave crimes. These convictions arise from the heart of our Christian faith. We believe every human being bears the image of God and therefore possesses a dignity that even the most grievous sin cannot erase. We believe in accountability, but we also believe in repentance, redemption, mercy, and the possibility of transformation. As Scripture reminds us, God ‘desires mercy, not sacrifice’ (Matthew 9:13).”
In a statement just the next day, October 2, the three Catholic bishops of Tennessee, Bishop David Talley of Memhis, Bishop Mark Spalding of Nashville, and Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville, called for, not merely the commuting of Christa Pike’s death sentence, but an end to capital punishment. Entitled “Replace the Death Penalty with Life Without Parole,” the bishops wrote, “The Tennessee Catholic Conference calls on the State of Tennessee to choose a different path in responding to the most heinous crimes: replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This path serves justice, protects society, and respects the dignity of every human life. Catholic moral teaching recognizes that even those who commit terrible crimes retain their human dignity. Accountability for grave wrongdoing is necessary, but it does not require the taking of another life. The bishops of Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville have long maintained that society can be protected, and serious crimes punished without resorting to execution.”
There are several reasons to oppose the death penalty. First, it does not represent true justice. True justice demands that what was taken be returned. In the case of taking a human life, this is obviously impossible. Second, the death penalty is administered unequally. Those convicted of heinous crimes who are racial minorities are more likely to receive the death penalty than those convicted who are White, even for similar crimes. According to The Death Penalty Information Center, “More than 75% of death row defendants who have been executed were sentenced to death for killing white victims, even though in society as a whole about half of all homicide victims are African American.” Third, while in the past it may have been justified to take the life of one who threatened harm to society if they escaped, today our technology is such that we can securely imprison people for life with much greater success, so that killing the criminal is no longer necessary to protect society. Fourth, if the goal is to punish, life in prison fulfills that goal. To kill a criminal when it is possible to adequately hold him or her accountable for their crime without killing them is simply to kill seeking revenge. But our Lord says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” (Dt 32:35; Rm 12:19). Finally, and this is the most important in my mind, is that by executing a prisoner, we are telling him or her, “You have until this date to get yourself right with the Lord. If you do, great! If you don’t, we will kill your unrepentant self!” To me, that is intolerable. Only God has the authority to tell a person how much time they have to get right with Him. That is certainly not a privilege of the state, even for a person who has committed horrible crimes.
Let’s hope and pray that Governor Lee and the state legislature of Tennessee take seriously the appeal of Tennessee’s bishops. I’m not holding my breath. But God’s grace moves in mysterious ways. Let’s pray for a full recovery for Christa Pike, and that her heart will be moved to turn to the Lord for mercy. And let’s pray both for the repose of the soul of Colleen Slemmers and the comfort of her family, that their hearts, too, might be moved to mercy.
Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.
